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“Are you okay?” Maya brushed her hand over Peri’s hair, her tone concerned.
“Ask me later.” Peri wrenched her gaze away from the gruesome picture and focused her attention on the woman standing next to her. “Right now I need to go to Wyoming.”
“Yes.”
Peri arched a brow. “No argument?”
Maya shrugged. “Is there anything I could say to change your mind?”
“No.”
“Then what’s the point?”
Peri wasn’t impressed with the woman’s logic. “Since when do you need a point to argue? It’s your default reaction.”
Maya clicked her tongue. “Harsh.”
Peri planted her hands on her hips. She’d known this woman for nine years. She was as overprotective as a mother hen. There was no way she would willingly allow Peri to rush into a potentially dangerous situation.
“Maya, what’s going on?”
“This needs to be investigated,” she said, the scars that marred the side of her face emphasized as she clenched her jaw. “I’ve been told you are the only one capable of seeing the truth.”
Ah. Now Peri understood. The mysterious Benefactor had warned Maya that it was Peri’s duty to deal with the death of the witches. And the command to let Peri handle the problem without her was killing Maya.
“But not alone.” Skye abruptly burst into the conversation, her curls bouncing as she moved to wrap her arm around Peri’s waist. “I’ll come with you.”
Maya shook her head. “It has to be Peri.”
“I don’t want her to be by herself,” Skye insisted.
Peri brushed a kiss over Skye’s curls. “It will be fine, Skye. I’ll go to the ranch, figure out what happened and be back before you notice I’m gone.”
“I don’t like this,” Skye insisted.
“I don’t either, but I trust that Peri can take care of herself,” Maya said.
“Of course she can.” Skye tightened her arm around Peri’s waist. “That’s not why I’m worried. Her mother and the coven who raised her are dead and she needs her family with her.”
Family…
Peri’s icy shock melted away as Skye’s words settled in the center of her heart. Yes. These two womenwereher family. They were the ones she laughed and cried with, who had her back no matter what. The ones she trusted without hesitation.
“Skye, I love your tender heart,” she assured her friend. “But if you think I’m grieving for the woman who tried to slaughter me then you don’t know me at all.”
“You aren’t as tough as you pretend, Peri Sanguis.” Skye’s eyes shimmered with a sudden power. “That’s your salvation.”
“Skye.” Maya’s tone was sharp, as if she feared that Skye was about to offer a premonition.
They’d made a pact when the younger woman was invited to join them at the Witch’s Brew that she would never reveal the future.
Not to them.
Skye reluctantly stepped back and Maya cleared her throat, taking command of the suddenly tense situation.
“I have you booked on a flight to Casper tomorrow,” she told Peri. “A vehicle will be waiting for you at the airport. Stay as long as you need.”
Peri jerked her head in a semblance of a nod. She’d sworn she would never return to Wisdom Ranch. It’d been fourteenyears since she’d fled the place, but the wounds were still raw. Everything about this trip made her want to vomit.
